


Never Be The Same

by Tricochet



Series: FlashVibe Week 2018 [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Choir AU, FlashVibe Week, FlashVibe Week 2018, High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 05:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15623718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tricochet/pseuds/Tricochet
Summary: Cisco isn't excited to be assigned to duet with Barry Allen for a semester, at least not until they get to know each other.





	Never Be The Same

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a lot of old Glee videos and videos of Carlos and Tom singing. Wells is a choir director here, however, it’s more like an HR version of Wells than Earth-1. 
> 
> This fic was really hard to write for some reason, and I’m not totally satisfied, but I watched too many dance tutorials while working on this to leave it in my drafts forever, so here goes.

Cisco stares at the boy across from him. He’d never really talked to Barry before. The kid mostly seems to hang out with his sister and the other track people.

“Hi!” Barry says happily. “You excited to duet together?”

Cisco nods. It’s not totally the truth. He would rather have worked alone than with a beanpole of a track kid, especially when the guy will not stop smiling. It’s freaking Cisco out.

“For the first week, we have to do a pop song. I guess Wells wanted us to start with something fun, huh?”

Cisco nods silently. He’s not a fan of pop music.

“So, what song do you want to do?”

“I’m not too familiar with pop,” Cisco says. “You choose.”

Barry smiles a little bit. “You have a problem with One Direction?”

Cisco almost has to laugh. Of course Barry listens to boybands. 

“Sure.”

 

 

“Can’t we do regular dance moves?” Cisco asks. “Do we have to slide on the floor if we want to live while we’re young?”

“Yes!” Barry says. “We have to do the slide, and then we both point at each other.”

“And what do we want to do for the next part?”

“Hmm. The dorkiest dance moves we know.”

“And the one you repeat the most is the three stomps. For the chorus, can we, like, switch feet?”

“Sure,” Barry says. “You wanna try to run it?”

“Alright,” Cisco says. “I’m ready to practice my spinning, jumping, and pointing.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Cisco reluctantly assumes his starting position and does the slide. He’s not expecting Barry to throw an arm around his shoulder for most of the last chorus or to bump their chests together when they’re done. 

“That was so good!” Barry says. 

Cisco smiles. “Yeah. I’m starting to get the appeal of boybands. By the way, how many One Direction videos did you watch to memorize the choreo?”

Barry hugs him. Cisco finds his face stuck in Barry’s shoulder. 

 

 

“Next week is more my speed,” Cisco says. “Songs from the sixties and seventies. I already have one I’ve thought about.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It might be kind of cheesy, but at least we won’t be doing bro-hugs as part of the dance. I’m thinking, like, it starts out with you and then I have a big entrance where I hop off a desk and go down the center of the classroom.”

“Ooh,” Barry says. “What song, though?”

“Put A Little Love In Your Heart.”

“Alright, but only if we get to do a little waltz up and down the room.”

Cisco laughs. Barry is nicer than Cisco had expected. He’s started smiling at Cisco in the hallways and sitting with him even outside of choir. He’s tall and a very good dancer. Cisco kind of wants to feel his hair. It looks soft.

Cisco shakes his thoughts off and gets into position.

 

 

Cisco quickly finds out how tactile Barry is. He never likes to go more than a few beats without finding a way to work touching Cisco into the choreography. Most of the time, it’s an arm around Cisco’s shoulder while they harmonize, but sometimes, it’s a jitterbug where Barry takes one of Cisco’s hands and puts the other on his waist. 

“There’s a lot of sound effects in this song, so I think it’d be kind of cool to dance along with them,” Barry suggests. “Also, we need cool fedoras that we can toss away partway through the song. You know, to look like real smooth criminals.”

“Pick one: we can have fedoras or we can be cool. Not both,” Cisco snarks. Barry snorts.

“For now, we can just pretend to have fedoras. Let’s run it.”

Barry plays the instrumental recording. Cisco stays in his chair with his legs crossed and stares while Barry starts the first verse. 

A few beats in, Barry leans down, singing intensely into Cisco’s ear. He’s definitely playing up the tension aspect of the song, and Cisco can feel the hair on the back of his neck and arms stand up. Barry paces slowly around the room, locking eyes with Cisco. He has a half-smirk on his face. 

Cisco stands up for the chorus. He follows Barry’s posture and prowls around him. They get closer together, then turn so they’re facing opposite sides.

Barry takes a few steps forward before launching into the choreography. He puts his hand on Cisco’s chest and pretends to shove him back. Cisco whirls around and does the same to Barry.

The song ends with Barry standing across from Cisco and singing a few inches from his face. Barry is taller, and it thrills Cisco a little to have Barry so close. 

He feels the intensity in Barry’s voice. Both of Barry’s hands are tensed into fists and held behind his back. 

Cisco tries to say something, but it doesn’t work. He just gapes at Barry’s focused eyes and his hair. He’s hot when he’s that intense. Barry is staring back at him. 

“Was that too much?” Barry says, jerking back like he hadn’t noticed anything.

“No, the song was good. I think we need to work on the choreography so it looks less like we’re hunting each other.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Cisco wonders how he’s going to make it to the semester concert.

 

 

“Are you a Gaga fan?” Cisco asks. He already knows the answer from looking at Barry’s social medias. Half of Barry’s posts seemed to be accompanied by her lyrics.

“Yeah!” Barry says. His eyes light up. “Poker Face is my jam.”

“Do you want to try that one?”

Barry looks so excited that Cisco has to smile. “I mean, do you want to? I know pop isn’t really your thing.”

“I’m starting to like it more,” Cisco says. 

Barry scratches his neck. “What if we sang the whole song without changing our expressions?”

“That would be weird, but I’ll try it.”

Cisco goes through the choreography, keeping his face as flat as he can. He notices again that Barry’s go-to move seems to be a two-step and an adjustment of his collar. He tries not to let his face react to the cute wiggle Barry does on the third beat of the eighth measure. 

“Fun,” Barry says. “Uh, are you comfortable with how the song is? Like, do you want to make it about a woman instead?”

“Nah,” Cisco says. “I’m not a coward. Or straight.”

Barry smiles and tilts his head. “Glad to hear it.”

 

 

Cisco sits down at the piano. Barry had been shocked when each group was instructed to sing a duet without moving or dancing. Cisco had offered to play the piano for a slower song. 

Cisco looks at Barry. Barry nods. Cisco sings the first line and plays a chord. 

A few bars in, he’s already wondering why he thought it would be such a good idea to sing a romantic duet with Barry. 

He tries not to look up at Barry at all for the first half of the song. 

“Stop the music!” Wells hollers. “I know this is just practice, but you both sound like robots. This is a love song. Put some feeling into it, and please look at each other! The song is Open Your Eyes, but you’re both staring at the floor.”

Cisco winces and starts the song again. This time, he holds eye contact with Barry. Barry smiles at him and rests one arm on Cisco’s shoulder. Cisco sings like he’s singing to Barry.

Wells claps. “That was a truly eye-opening performance.”

Cisco groans. Barry laughs. 

“I’ll go check on the other groups,” Wells says. He shuts the door behind him. 

“Hey, uh. You have a beautiful voice,” Barry says suddenly. 

“Thank you. There’s no one I’d rather sing a romantic duet with.”

“Aww, come here.” Barry pulls Cisco into another hug.

Cisco tries not to focus on how nice Barry smells. 

“It did kind of open my eyes a little,” Barry says. “I’d like to spend more time with you. Like, outside of school. And outside of practicing our duets. I mean, if you want to practice, that’s cool too, but I was thinking more like, uh, something else-”

“You mean, like, a date?”

Barry scratches his neck and looks down shyly. He mumbles a little.

“If so, I say yes,” Cisco says. 

Barry smiles. “Really?”

“Yeah. We can even go to a One Direction concert if you want.”

“I’ve got some bad news for you,” Barry says. 

“What is it?”

Barry shakes his head. “Actually, never mind. I’ll tell you later.”

 

 

Cisco can’t believe that he and Barry are already working on their last duet for the class. 

“Shall we make it a good one?”

Barry nods, getting into the starting position with his feet planted and his hands behind his back. Cisco stands next to him and tilts his head down.

He vocalizes as Barry starts the solo, both of them standing still. On the fourth count of eight, they take slow steps forward. The instrumentals start playing, and both of their heads snap up. Cisco takes quick steps backwards and pushes his hands in time with the downbeats. 

He starts the chorus of Glad You Came. Barry follows his movements, reversing them so they’re turning around each other. Cisco twists his legs in between Barry’s.

Cisco jumps from one foot to the other. He grabs Barry’s hand and leads him in a tango. They take two steps and turn their heads to look behind them. They turn the other way and move around the room in a whirl. 

They jump back from each other for the second verse. It’s a repetition of the first, but with added instrumentals. Cisco and Barry dance with their backs to each other, not quite letting them connect. 

They repeat the tango for the rest of the song. It ends with their chests pressed together and Cisco’s hand holding Barry’s.

He’s still breathless at getting to sing and dance with Barry. Or maybe he’s breathless because they have to perform the duet at the school concert within the week. Either way, he’s glad Barry came.


End file.
